Weak hive

[JonnyPicklechin]

One of my 6 looks poor. When it was warm i peeked in and saw only 2 or so frames of bees. There were plenty of stores.

Since then the only entrance activity sees wandering bees; in other words, no real intent by the bees coming in and out, which indicates robbing or at least interest from other bees.

I have a poly NUC going gang busters so immediate thought is 'when to unite?' Assume I can only wait for some 14deg + weather? If they dont make it by then then c'est le vie?

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[JonnyPicklechin]

I got ...ummm...zero replies.

My question is when is the proper time to unite? Temperature over 14 deg c ok? Any other tips?

 

[Poly Hive]

Pick a windless warmish day whip in and check for brood. If there is then insert your prepared dummy board and dummy them up. Do not try to boost them up as that is going to have an adverse effect on which ever unit you take from.

Give a small feed too preferably in a frame feeder.

PH

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Cheers...And if no brood?

 

[Millet]

Personally i would not unite them with anything (old bees probably if not robbers)..they might have a unmarked failed Queen in there.. or she might be dead ?..they might have nosema or they might be bees from your other colonies robbing the stores..i have a failed colony here..on a nice day it is full of bees and on a bad day it has very few in there..i will be leaving mine well alone till it is empty of robbing bees and then recover the hive parts..

 

[masterBK]

I think it was Manley who said "what do you get if you unite two weak colonies?"
Answer "One weak colony".
I agree with Millet and would always be wary of uniting any weak colony especially if you don't know why it is weak.

 

[Poly Hive]

I agree.

PH

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Ta all....

I heard from someone you can send dead bees somewhere and they can test for disease or malady...true or false? Details?

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[Poly Hive]

You need to ask the NBU as being over the border myself the situation is different.

PH

 

[BeeSpace]

I thought NBU did it, but think they've discontinued:

http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=117

Your local association might have someone that does microscopy checks, if you contact them.

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Ive written to Fera Science just out of interest and will see what they say...

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

I had a look at 15 deg C today.....No brood. But queen marching about. But they are all clustered on a very old frame of maybe 4 years old. Possibility this hampering progress?

Its not a big hive but I saw no obvious signs of disease. Just no brood....

Gut feel is to leave them and see if they progress...Maybe she is just later to start?

Thoughts?

 

[Ian123]

There should be brood and you dont say how many frames of bees there are. I would be inclined to get them into a small warm space, poly idealy or dummy down and add some warm syrup. Age of the frame would not hold them back but numbers of bees would, could be a number of other issues inc shes just a dud.. With several other hives you just need to consider how much faffing its worth

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Cheers Ian....based on this...When its a warm again I shall move them to a wooden Nuc and just watch them with a full feeder frame of 1:1 - See if they expand from there, watching for her for brood.

I'll keep the spare (its a decent WBC) for the inevitable swarm splits about to come...

 

[masterBK]

I personally am not prepared to carry passengers. I agree with Ian123 you can spent a lot of time and effort trying to save a colony that simply isn't worth it. Even if you do get the queen up and laying it is unlikely to lead to a good outcome.
Apart from AFB scales you can't detect brood disease if there is no brood. If the queen is not laying then she could be Nosemic.

 

[Poly Hive]

Some thoughts here.

Move to a timber nuc? Bad idea unless you dummy both sides with insulated dummys.

The queen has no brood. This is pretty telling don't you think? Says to me she is stuffed but happy to be proved wrong.

The bit that made me chuckle though was the 4 year old comb. Pre varroa comb was commonly run in some places until it was over 50. Yep.

I am looking across the landscape here which is white over with an inch of snow. Its zero here so if you have the same I think your problem may well resolve it's self for you.

PH

 

[Teebeeaitch]

I agree with masterBK. Leave it alone and spend your energy on your good colonies. Games not worth the candle.

 

[Wingy]

Keep us updated on the outcome I’m sure others have similar situations
I too have 1 colony that has dwindled rapidly however my Q had just come back into lay as when I inspected last week there were eggs and young larvae, no capped brood. I reduced them down to a single brood box (from brood & 1/2) and dummied down with insulated dummy boards. The few flying bees seemed to be ok bringing in pollen and nectar so fingers crossed they will pull through and if they do I will re Q ASAP